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Finding — again — our first love

The Spirit gave me ears to hear yesterday morning, and I heard the Scripture from Revelations 2:1-7: “You have left your first love. Repent.”

But how do I do that, Father, Jesus, Spirit?

If you live in the same area I do and you saw the early morning sky this morning, I would like you to know that God did that sky just for me. Yup. You might have been a spectator this morning as the sky-message unfolded, but it was meant for me. He was reminding me, “I can do everything and anything I want … ”

Because, you see, the sky this morning was a month of beautiful skies rolled into one. Like an autumn cornucopia spilling all kinds of bounty, the sky pageant this morning included every imaginable cloud touched with dawn color. High, wispy mare’s tails; a few billowing cumulus; ridges of clouds, like mountains in the distance; clouds that wash across the sky like sand scattered by the tide; and even a trail of those cloud dabs, the ones that look like a child’s fingerprints across the blue — All those clouds, touched with rose and gold and orange in the east, blues and grays and yellow and white in the west.

Such a morning!

And it came after I asked Christ, “How can I love you more, love you better, always keep you as my first love?”

I asked that question this morning, then stepped outside and saw the sky. God, reminding me who He is.

This week, I’m determined to find some answers to my question. I’m going to ask, seek, knock. I want to know.

The first answer came as I walked under that sky-message. As I went east, something prompted me to glance west … and I saw the sun glowing in the western sky.

A water tower climbs into the sky in the center of our town. Almost a blemish against the beauty of our hills, it’s a drab gray-blue orb that looks like a UFO hovering overhead.

But at that moment, it was glowing orange. And I know this might be hard to believe for those of you who know that tower. But … seriously … it was a fiery ball, another sun rising above the trees!

And there was my first answer. I learn to love Christ more, my love for Him comes alive, when I position myself directly in the rays of His love.

That tower caught the sun because it stretches above the trees, stretches high. Below, the houses wore their usual white and brick, the trees green, the fence gray, all untouched by the sun. But the tower was glowing.

Those places or positions where we stretch and expose ourselves fully to God might be different for you than for me. For all of us, surely it is in prayer and Scripture. But I have learned there are also other places that open me up to God, like early morning walks, quiet times in nature’s hideaways, reading certain authors. For you, it might be in music, on your knees in a chapel, fellowship in a Bible study group.

If repenting is key to returning to my first love, then repentance means I need to change what I am doing now. In this case, I want to consciously change how I position myself throughout the precious minutes and hours of every day. Too many days slide by, full, busy, thoughtless, without my once stretching to catch fully the rays of His love.

I believe our faith is a gift from God and belief is begun and perfected by the Spirit. I believe He holds His children securely. But I also believe we have a choice in whether or not we cling to the Life-Vine. I cannot explain how those two things work together. But I believe both statements are truth.

We do have a choice how we spend our days. We do have a choice whether or not we position ourselves in the rays of God’s love, whether we stretch toward Him, asking Him to set us aglow.